The deal is a striking blow for Netflix, which has seen increased competition from Amazon for months now. The season 3 premiere of “Downton”, aired last month, drew a reported 7.9 million viewers, quadrupling PBS’ average primetime viewership.

Netflix has taken recent strides in attempts to secure itself as a viable alternative to expensive cable providers, even going so far as to release its own show, “House of Cards.” However, going up against an Internet giant such as Amazon (and all its investable cash)…